U.S. AGENTS RESCUE 79 HAITIANS, 5 CREW IN MONA ISLAND SHIPWRECK
(Dominican Today) -
AGUADILLA, Puerto Rico – An elaborate operation has been undertaken since late yesterday by federal and state law enforcement authorities, under the Caribbean Border Interagency Group (CBIG), to remove 79 undocumented Haitian aliens and 5 vessel crewmembers from Mona Island.
CBIG authorities confirmed that 84 persons (65 Male, 19 Female) were on board a Honduran flagged 185-foot coastal freighter named “Jireh” which ran aground yesterday morning just off Uvero Beach in Mona Island, Puerto Rico.
Park Rangers from the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DNER) found the group and the vessel yesterday notifying federal authorities prompting the response operation.
This morning US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Agents assumed custody of 42 Haitian undocumented aliens which were transported to the Ramey Border Patrol Station, Aguadilla, for immigration processing. At the island 42 male aliens remain.
Air and Marine units from CBP, USCG, DNER, Puerto Rico National Guard and the Puerto Rico Police’s Joint Forces for Rapid Action (FURA, for its Spanish acronym) have been transporting additional agents and officers from the respective agencies, as well as provisions and materials to address the needs of the large group.
An Incident Command Post and Unified Command comprised of federal, state and industry agencies and organization has been established at Coast Guard Base San Juan to manage response and salvage efforts of the coastal freighter Jireh. The Incident Command Post includes Coast Guard, Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, the National Atmospheric & Oceanic Administration, Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, and Clean Harbors as the contracted Oil Spill Response Organization. The Unified Command is coordinating response and salvage efforts and conducting a more thorough assessment to determine the condition of the vessel and mitigate any environmental impact caused by the vessel grounding.
Federal law establishes that all foreign flagged vessels who are about to enter a US territory must notify CBP its intent and request admission at a designated point of entry. Furthermore, U.S. immigration law prohibits entering or attempt to enter without requesting admission at a port of entry by immigration officers.
According to the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), while smuggling by sea accounts only for a small portion of overall migrant smuggling around the world, the particular dangers of irregular travel at sea make it a priority for response; due to the reported fact that more deaths occur by sea.
Showing posts with label Articles - Migrants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Articles - Migrants. Show all posts
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Saturday, June 16, 2012
ARTICLE - FEARS OF MIGRATION
FEARS OF MIGRATION ADD TO EUROPE'S WOES
(Boston Globe) - By Juliette Kayyem
A paradox about globalization — that energetic, free-wheeling word to describe the shared experience of people, commerce, and ideas across borders — is that its success is not measured by movement, but by inertia. If the benefits of greater “one world” integration are tangible, then people will stay put. They will not vote with their feet; they will grab an armchair.
Today, the European community, and the world, grow ever more panicked over the future of their union and its debt crises. This weekend, Greece heads to elections whose results will determine whether Europe’s bailout has any democratic support. The primary reason for this sense of urgency and unified effort is money; Greece, Italy, and Spain are all too big to fail.
But if ever there was evidence that this is about more than just money, it is in the behavior of euro-phobic Britain. Prime Minister David Cameron has spent considerable effort traveling the continent to shore up the much-maligned European Union and tacitly embrace “more Europe.” This from a country that is not even a member of its currency. Britain wants Europe to succeed so that it can keep it at arm’s length. It embraces Europe and a unified destiny to ensure that Europeans will stay put.
Nobody wants Europeans, panicked and desperate Europeans, to start moving. Workers in countries hardest hit by debt, and the austerity measures put in place to control that debt, may cross borders to seek jobs and wages. The United Kingdom, far from the poor Mediterranean states, will seem a safe haven. Already, in stable Britain, net migration is up, and emigration of British citizens is down.
Growing concerns that those “other” Europeans might keep coming suggests why Home Secretary Theresa May recently disclosed that the country was making contingency plans to deal with a potential influx of, well, Europeans. Emergency powers are being contemplated to void the European Union’s foundation: one market under one border.
The controversy May’s statement engendered was swift; even Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg had to quickly deny that Britain was pulling “up the drawbridge” though he conceded that all scenarios were being worked through. Nothing is wrong with planning, except it is unclear whether such a border closure is allowed under European rules.
Borders can be sealed only in a situation threatening security. In the past, these emergency authorities have been used against other European nations to deal with football hooligans or anti-globalization protesters. EU rules actually disavow border restrictions purely for economic reasons. This controversy is a window into just how much the whole notion of European integration is likely to be affected by the failure of Europe’s single market.
Migration of the “other” is one of the most under-appreciated aspects of what drives foreign and national policy decisions today. In order for nations to keep people away, they must be invested in helping those who might take to their feet. Stronger nations often get entangled in global affairs to ensure that weaker nations don’t just give up.
The potential consequences of mass migration, after all, are what motivated the NAFTA treaty; we would tie our trade with Mexico and Canada to elevate the economy and keep our southern friends at bay. It explains former French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s focus on killing Libyan leader Muammar Khadafy; chaos in Libya would have meant more Libyans clamoring at France’s Mediterranean borders. It helps to understand, beyond our humanitarian and historic responsibilities to Haiti, why the United States was so invested in ensuring a strong recovery after the 2010 earthquake; with no hope, Haitians may have jumped on makeshift rafts to come to Florida’s waters.
The irony today is that all this talk of one Europe is actually grounded in motivations that are quite protectionist. Money matters, but the panic is also tied to a strategic effort to keep people from moving. Publicly, Britain may be hugging its European Union allies, but the motive behind it all is pure, and understandable, self-interest.
It’s all a kind of theater of intimacy. It’s the equivalent of a diplomatic air kiss.
(Boston Globe) - By Juliette Kayyem
A paradox about globalization — that energetic, free-wheeling word to describe the shared experience of people, commerce, and ideas across borders — is that its success is not measured by movement, but by inertia. If the benefits of greater “one world” integration are tangible, then people will stay put. They will not vote with their feet; they will grab an armchair.
Today, the European community, and the world, grow ever more panicked over the future of their union and its debt crises. This weekend, Greece heads to elections whose results will determine whether Europe’s bailout has any democratic support. The primary reason for this sense of urgency and unified effort is money; Greece, Italy, and Spain are all too big to fail.
But if ever there was evidence that this is about more than just money, it is in the behavior of euro-phobic Britain. Prime Minister David Cameron has spent considerable effort traveling the continent to shore up the much-maligned European Union and tacitly embrace “more Europe.” This from a country that is not even a member of its currency. Britain wants Europe to succeed so that it can keep it at arm’s length. It embraces Europe and a unified destiny to ensure that Europeans will stay put.
Nobody wants Europeans, panicked and desperate Europeans, to start moving. Workers in countries hardest hit by debt, and the austerity measures put in place to control that debt, may cross borders to seek jobs and wages. The United Kingdom, far from the poor Mediterranean states, will seem a safe haven. Already, in stable Britain, net migration is up, and emigration of British citizens is down.
Growing concerns that those “other” Europeans might keep coming suggests why Home Secretary Theresa May recently disclosed that the country was making contingency plans to deal with a potential influx of, well, Europeans. Emergency powers are being contemplated to void the European Union’s foundation: one market under one border.
The controversy May’s statement engendered was swift; even Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg had to quickly deny that Britain was pulling “up the drawbridge” though he conceded that all scenarios were being worked through. Nothing is wrong with planning, except it is unclear whether such a border closure is allowed under European rules.
Borders can be sealed only in a situation threatening security. In the past, these emergency authorities have been used against other European nations to deal with football hooligans or anti-globalization protesters. EU rules actually disavow border restrictions purely for economic reasons. This controversy is a window into just how much the whole notion of European integration is likely to be affected by the failure of Europe’s single market.
Migration of the “other” is one of the most under-appreciated aspects of what drives foreign and national policy decisions today. In order for nations to keep people away, they must be invested in helping those who might take to their feet. Stronger nations often get entangled in global affairs to ensure that weaker nations don’t just give up.
The potential consequences of mass migration, after all, are what motivated the NAFTA treaty; we would tie our trade with Mexico and Canada to elevate the economy and keep our southern friends at bay. It explains former French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s focus on killing Libyan leader Muammar Khadafy; chaos in Libya would have meant more Libyans clamoring at France’s Mediterranean borders. It helps to understand, beyond our humanitarian and historic responsibilities to Haiti, why the United States was so invested in ensuring a strong recovery after the 2010 earthquake; with no hope, Haitians may have jumped on makeshift rafts to come to Florida’s waters.
The irony today is that all this talk of one Europe is actually grounded in motivations that are quite protectionist. Money matters, but the panic is also tied to a strategic effort to keep people from moving. Publicly, Britain may be hugging its European Union allies, but the motive behind it all is pure, and understandable, self-interest.
It’s all a kind of theater of intimacy. It’s the equivalent of a diplomatic air kiss.
ARTICLE - OBAMA - UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS
OBAMA REMOVES THREAT OF DEPORTATION FOR YOUNG UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS
(Defend Haiti) -
WASHINGTON, D.C. - An order issued on Friday by U.S. President Barack Obama will defer deportation for most illegal immigrants under the age of 30, that arrived in the U.S. as childrenm and have attended U.S. schools.
President Obama appeared at the White House Rose Garden before the press to discuss the order that some estimates say could affect 800,000 to 1.4 million children and young adults living the the U.S.
Not only will these immigrants avoid deportation but will be eligible for work visas. The criteria outlined by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is:
- They must be younger than 30.
- They must have been brought to the U.S. before their 16th birthdays.
- They must have been in the country for five continuous years.
- They must have no criminal history.
- They must have graduated from an American high school, earned an equivalent degree or served in the U.S. military.
- They must pass a government background check.
(Defend Haiti) -
WASHINGTON, D.C. - An order issued on Friday by U.S. President Barack Obama will defer deportation for most illegal immigrants under the age of 30, that arrived in the U.S. as childrenm and have attended U.S. schools.
President Obama appeared at the White House Rose Garden before the press to discuss the order that some estimates say could affect 800,000 to 1.4 million children and young adults living the the U.S.
Not only will these immigrants avoid deportation but will be eligible for work visas. The criteria outlined by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is:
- They must be younger than 30.
- They must have been brought to the U.S. before their 16th birthdays.
- They must have been in the country for five continuous years.
- They must have no criminal history.
- They must have graduated from an American high school, earned an equivalent degree or served in the U.S. military.
- They must pass a government background check.
ARTICLE - HAITIAN TRAGEDY - US IMMIGRATION FIX
SAD HAITIAN TRAGEDY CALLS FOR US IMMIGRATION FIX
(Miami Herald) - By Joe Cardona
This past week, another sad and all-too-common tragedy occurred off the coast of the Bahamas as an overcrowded boat carrying 28 Haitians on route to Florida capsized resulting in 11 dead — including at least four children. This recent calamity is yet another lamentable example of why the Obama administration needs to cease idle, campaign chatter about immigration and expedite Haitian family reunifications.
After the catastrophic earthquake that decimated Haiti two years ago, President Obama responded quickly and effectively, millions of dollars in U.S. aid and soldiers to help the Haitian people dig out from under the rubble.
Eventually, Temporary Protected Status was rightly granted to Haitians who were here at the time of the quake, as well as relatives who joined family in the states shortly after the natural disaster destroyed their lives. This measure was appropriate given the devastation left behind by the earthquake. It was a good first step in what should have been a more permanent, structured, and legal process by which Haitians should be allowed entry into this country.
In South Florida, immigration policy goes beyond political rhetoric — many Miamians are immigrants or the children of immigrants or certainly know someone who was not born in the United States. Yet for the over four decades that I’ve lived in Miami, immigration law has never been just or equitable.
This is rich in irony as Cuba and Haiti share a history spanning two centuries of having the United States meddle in both countries’ development and internal politics. Both Cuba and Haiti have been victims of tyrannical dictatorships that systematically violated — and in Cuba’s case, continue to violate — human rights. Despite the glaring similarities between these two groups, there has been great disparity in how the United States treats them under immigration law.
The reasons for the preferential treatment afforded Cubans and not Haitians (and other ethnic groups such as Nicaraguans, Mexicans or Hondurans) include inconsistent American foreign policy, the economic prosperity and subsequent political clout gained by the Cuban community and the ever present and little spoken or written about racism that Haitians (and other groups) continue to be victimized by — lighter-skinned immigrants have historically been slightly more palatable to the U.S. electorate.
Despite the $11 billion of aid pledged and the seeming willingness of the international community to help rebuild Haiti after the earthquake, the process has been slow and disappointing. Part of the problem is that the world identified this as a “rebuilding” project. The truth is, Haiti needed building and edifying long before the catastrophe.
There is enough blame to go around for the economic and political failures in Haiti. The bulk of the responsibility undoubtedly falls on the Haitian people. The country has a flawed political culture that serves as a corroding factor in almost every facet of the country’s infrastructure. Few Haitian government institutions are exempt from the adverse effects of corruption.
The lack of functioning government services and political transparency in Haiti bring on the economic stagnation that fuels desperation and propels its citizens to leave the island by any means and at any costs.
The Haitian polemic is complex and unfortunately, there are no quick fixes. The United States’ approach should be two pronged. We should continue helping Haitians (in Haiti) develop reliable, effective public institutions and in essence apply the old adage of helping them to fish rather than to supply the fish. At the same time, Haitians should be afforded more legal options to enter the United States.
The Department of Homeland Security has already approved 112,000 Haitians, which include 15,000 underage children and spouses of permanent Haitian residents, for entry. The wait for people on this list ranges from three to 11 years. An orderly and prompt migration process, like the one established for Cubans, is a sensible and humane option for Haitians — hopefully signaling the end to the all-too-familiar tragedies at sea.
(Miami Herald) - By Joe Cardona
This past week, another sad and all-too-common tragedy occurred off the coast of the Bahamas as an overcrowded boat carrying 28 Haitians on route to Florida capsized resulting in 11 dead — including at least four children. This recent calamity is yet another lamentable example of why the Obama administration needs to cease idle, campaign chatter about immigration and expedite Haitian family reunifications.
After the catastrophic earthquake that decimated Haiti two years ago, President Obama responded quickly and effectively, millions of dollars in U.S. aid and soldiers to help the Haitian people dig out from under the rubble.
Eventually, Temporary Protected Status was rightly granted to Haitians who were here at the time of the quake, as well as relatives who joined family in the states shortly after the natural disaster destroyed their lives. This measure was appropriate given the devastation left behind by the earthquake. It was a good first step in what should have been a more permanent, structured, and legal process by which Haitians should be allowed entry into this country.
In South Florida, immigration policy goes beyond political rhetoric — many Miamians are immigrants or the children of immigrants or certainly know someone who was not born in the United States. Yet for the over four decades that I’ve lived in Miami, immigration law has never been just or equitable.
This is rich in irony as Cuba and Haiti share a history spanning two centuries of having the United States meddle in both countries’ development and internal politics. Both Cuba and Haiti have been victims of tyrannical dictatorships that systematically violated — and in Cuba’s case, continue to violate — human rights. Despite the glaring similarities between these two groups, there has been great disparity in how the United States treats them under immigration law.
The reasons for the preferential treatment afforded Cubans and not Haitians (and other ethnic groups such as Nicaraguans, Mexicans or Hondurans) include inconsistent American foreign policy, the economic prosperity and subsequent political clout gained by the Cuban community and the ever present and little spoken or written about racism that Haitians (and other groups) continue to be victimized by — lighter-skinned immigrants have historically been slightly more palatable to the U.S. electorate.
Despite the $11 billion of aid pledged and the seeming willingness of the international community to help rebuild Haiti after the earthquake, the process has been slow and disappointing. Part of the problem is that the world identified this as a “rebuilding” project. The truth is, Haiti needed building and edifying long before the catastrophe.
There is enough blame to go around for the economic and political failures in Haiti. The bulk of the responsibility undoubtedly falls on the Haitian people. The country has a flawed political culture that serves as a corroding factor in almost every facet of the country’s infrastructure. Few Haitian government institutions are exempt from the adverse effects of corruption.
The lack of functioning government services and political transparency in Haiti bring on the economic stagnation that fuels desperation and propels its citizens to leave the island by any means and at any costs.
The Haitian polemic is complex and unfortunately, there are no quick fixes. The United States’ approach should be two pronged. We should continue helping Haitians (in Haiti) develop reliable, effective public institutions and in essence apply the old adage of helping them to fish rather than to supply the fish. At the same time, Haitians should be afforded more legal options to enter the United States.
The Department of Homeland Security has already approved 112,000 Haitians, which include 15,000 underage children and spouses of permanent Haitian residents, for entry. The wait for people on this list ranges from three to 11 years. An orderly and prompt migration process, like the one established for Cubans, is a sensible and humane option for Haitians — hopefully signaling the end to the all-too-familiar tragedies at sea.
Friday, June 15, 2012
ARTICLE - CAPTAIN ORGANIZED MIGRANT TRIP
POLICE SUSPECT CAPTAIN ORGANIZED TRAGIC HAITIAN MIGRANT TRIP
(Boston Herald) - By Jacqueline Charles / McClatchy Newspapers
MIAMI — Bahamian police said Thursday that the father of five children who perished at sea in Sunday’s Haitian boat tragedy was the organizer of the ill-fated trip and is being sought by police.
Chancelaire Baptiste, 52, is a diver and is known as Chancy, his brother-in-law told The Miami Herald earlier this week. Baptiste’s oldest child, Shana, unsuccessfully tried to rescue her siblings after the boat took on water off the Bahamian coast. But she died along with 10 other Haitians.
At least a dozen other migrants onboard are presumed missing.
"He was the captain," Bahamian police spokeswoman Loretta Mackey said by phone from Grand Bahama Island.
She and other officers say Baptiste was among those who survived the trip. Police have been questioning five survivors for days trying to confirm how many people were on board, who organized the voyage and what exactly went wrong.
On Thursday, police issued a bulletin for Baptiste and released his photo. The bulletin said Baptiste was a resident of Treasure Cay, Abaco, where the trip originated.
Eleven bodies were recovered from the boat, which was carrying Haitian migrants to Florida.
The U.S. Coast Guard said that after initially requesting help with air support, Bahamian authorities did not ask for their assistance on Thursday.
In South Florida, the Haitian community mourned the tragedy and Haitian advocates called on President Barack Obama to approve the Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program.
Thousands of signatures on petitions, as well as letters from nearly 100 U.S. Congress members, support the program, which only requires the president’s signature to go into effect.
It would allow the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to start paroling the most vulnerable Haitians who have already been approved for entry into the United States and allow them to be reunified with family members. Some of them have been languishing for up to 11 years on a waiting list in Haiti.
"Haitian Family Reunification Parole does not need an act of Congress," said Marleine Bastien, a Haitian rights advocate in Miami. "That is why we’re so disappointed that the Obama administration has not done this and our brothers and sisters are dying."
(Boston Herald) - By Jacqueline Charles / McClatchy Newspapers
MIAMI — Bahamian police said Thursday that the father of five children who perished at sea in Sunday’s Haitian boat tragedy was the organizer of the ill-fated trip and is being sought by police.
Chancelaire Baptiste, 52, is a diver and is known as Chancy, his brother-in-law told The Miami Herald earlier this week. Baptiste’s oldest child, Shana, unsuccessfully tried to rescue her siblings after the boat took on water off the Bahamian coast. But she died along with 10 other Haitians.
At least a dozen other migrants onboard are presumed missing.
"He was the captain," Bahamian police spokeswoman Loretta Mackey said by phone from Grand Bahama Island.
She and other officers say Baptiste was among those who survived the trip. Police have been questioning five survivors for days trying to confirm how many people were on board, who organized the voyage and what exactly went wrong.
On Thursday, police issued a bulletin for Baptiste and released his photo. The bulletin said Baptiste was a resident of Treasure Cay, Abaco, where the trip originated.
Eleven bodies were recovered from the boat, which was carrying Haitian migrants to Florida.
The U.S. Coast Guard said that after initially requesting help with air support, Bahamian authorities did not ask for their assistance on Thursday.
In South Florida, the Haitian community mourned the tragedy and Haitian advocates called on President Barack Obama to approve the Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program.
Thousands of signatures on petitions, as well as letters from nearly 100 U.S. Congress members, support the program, which only requires the president’s signature to go into effect.
It would allow the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to start paroling the most vulnerable Haitians who have already been approved for entry into the United States and allow them to be reunified with family members. Some of them have been languishing for up to 11 years on a waiting list in Haiti.
"Haitian Family Reunification Parole does not need an act of Congress," said Marleine Bastien, a Haitian rights advocate in Miami. "That is why we’re so disappointed that the Obama administration has not done this and our brothers and sisters are dying."
Thursday, June 14, 2012
UNDER PRESSURE, DOMINICAN AGENCIES LET HAITIAN CHILDREN ENROLL IN SCHOOL
(Dominican Today) -
SANTO DOMINGO- The Education Ministry and the Immigration Agency on Wednesday agreed to allow foreign children to enroll in school, even if they don’t meet the requirement of legally residing in the country. Immigration director Jose Ricardo Taveras didn’t specify whether the ban would be repealed.
The measure comes after pressure from various pro-Haitian rights organization, including the Centro Bono, who called the ban on enrollment a violation of human rights, and of several international conventions signed by Dominican Republic.
Nonetheless, Taveras and Education minister Josefina Pimentel noted that accepting those students doesn’t mean their immigration status would be legalized. They also announced a new fund to help document 24,000 undocumented foreign students, at an average cost of RD$1,200 each.
Pimentel said of the 54,808 foreign students in Dominican schools, 33,000 are Haitian and 24,000 of those are undocumented.
The officials also announced an interagency strategy with the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Central Electoral Board, to study the issue of the immigrants aimed at registering them in the latter’s Book of Foreigners.
(Dominican Today) -
SANTO DOMINGO- The Education Ministry and the Immigration Agency on Wednesday agreed to allow foreign children to enroll in school, even if they don’t meet the requirement of legally residing in the country. Immigration director Jose Ricardo Taveras didn’t specify whether the ban would be repealed.
The measure comes after pressure from various pro-Haitian rights organization, including the Centro Bono, who called the ban on enrollment a violation of human rights, and of several international conventions signed by Dominican Republic.
Nonetheless, Taveras and Education minister Josefina Pimentel noted that accepting those students doesn’t mean their immigration status would be legalized. They also announced a new fund to help document 24,000 undocumented foreign students, at an average cost of RD$1,200 each.
Pimentel said of the 54,808 foreign students in Dominican schools, 33,000 are Haitian and 24,000 of those are undocumented.
The officials also announced an interagency strategy with the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Central Electoral Board, to study the issue of the immigrants aimed at registering them in the latter’s Book of Foreigners.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
ARTICLE - D.R. IMMIGRATION BOWS TO PRESSURE
IMMIGRATION BOWS TO PRESSURE, RULES ON MIGRANT LABOR "RELAXED"
(Dominican Today) -
Santo Domingo - Bowing to pressure from several economic sectors via the Dominican Agribusiness Board (JAD), the Immigration Agency said it would “relax” the requirements to implement the Regulations in the new Migration Act, which took effect June 1.
JAD executive vice president Osmar Benitez on Sunday said many of the requirements to regularize Haitian foreigners may not apply to those who’re living in the country.
Business and labor groups and Haitian migrants rights’ organizations have questioned the regulation, given the importance of foreign workers for national production.
For business leaders, the regulation poses unsustainable costs.
Benitez estimates the cost to regularize one Haitian as high as RD$40,000, which he calls "unbearable."
He said nonetheless that JAD has been in contact with Immigration Director José Ricardo Taveras, whom he affirms agreed to rescind the insurance requirement for Haitian workers who’re residing in the country.
He said they also discussed the Foreign Ministry to reduce costs for work visas and with other agencies, for several types of documents for those immigrants who’ve spent years in country, will be issued by the Dominican government, not Haiti, as stipulated in the Regulations.
"It’s very difficult for a person with 10 years living here, go to Haiti to seek a good conduct paper or a medical certificate, because they’re no longer known there, there’s more information here," he said.
(Dominican Today) -
Santo Domingo - Bowing to pressure from several economic sectors via the Dominican Agribusiness Board (JAD), the Immigration Agency said it would “relax” the requirements to implement the Regulations in the new Migration Act, which took effect June 1.
JAD executive vice president Osmar Benitez on Sunday said many of the requirements to regularize Haitian foreigners may not apply to those who’re living in the country.
Business and labor groups and Haitian migrants rights’ organizations have questioned the regulation, given the importance of foreign workers for national production.
For business leaders, the regulation poses unsustainable costs.
Benitez estimates the cost to regularize one Haitian as high as RD$40,000, which he calls "unbearable."
He said nonetheless that JAD has been in contact with Immigration Director José Ricardo Taveras, whom he affirms agreed to rescind the insurance requirement for Haitian workers who’re residing in the country.
He said they also discussed the Foreign Ministry to reduce costs for work visas and with other agencies, for several types of documents for those immigrants who’ve spent years in country, will be issued by the Dominican government, not Haiti, as stipulated in the Regulations.
"It’s very difficult for a person with 10 years living here, go to Haiti to seek a good conduct paper or a medical certificate, because they’re no longer known there, there’s more information here," he said.
ARTICLE - HAITIANS PROTEST IN D.R.
DOMINICANS OF HAITIAN DESCENT PROTEST ALLEGED DENIAL OF NATIONALITY RIGHTS
(Dominican Today) -
Santo Domingo - Dominicans of Haitian descent on Tuesday protested the Central Electoral Board’s (JCE) decision to revoke their nationality and called for the measure’s repeal, alleging denial of their rights.
Representatives of the movement "Reconocido" (recognized) protested outside the JCE demanding an end to the so called denationalization policy and say resolution 12 halts the issuing of birth certificates to Dominicans of Haitian origin, despite having all other required documents.
"We the youngsters aren’t to blame for the mistakes of our parents. It’s an injustice of the JCE. We want to progress to help our parents, who gave their lives in the Dominican cane fields. We’re young people who are being deprived of our rights. We were born here and have no origins, and even animals have origins," said Elena Lorac, who showed a copy of her birth certificate.
She said that when she went to get a duplicate ID to enroll in a university three years ago she was denied, adding that Dominicans of Haitian descent want to complete their college studies and enter into other productive activities other than domestic service, and selling on the streets.
While Ana Maria Belique, a college student, also showed her ID card, and said she now won’t be able to get duplicate documents because they aren’t being issued. She said she has never been to Haiti.
In addition to the capital, the protest was staged simultaneously in front of the electoral boards in Bayaguana, Guaimate, La Romana, El Seibo and San Pedro de Macoris, and in the sugar mill towns Consuelo, Quisqueya and Ramon Santana.
The protesters chanted "I want to progress and the board won’t let me"; "I want to study and the board won’t let me", and "I want to work and the board won’t let me."
(Dominican Today) -
Santo Domingo - Dominicans of Haitian descent on Tuesday protested the Central Electoral Board’s (JCE) decision to revoke their nationality and called for the measure’s repeal, alleging denial of their rights.
Representatives of the movement "Reconocido" (recognized) protested outside the JCE demanding an end to the so called denationalization policy and say resolution 12 halts the issuing of birth certificates to Dominicans of Haitian origin, despite having all other required documents.
"We the youngsters aren’t to blame for the mistakes of our parents. It’s an injustice of the JCE. We want to progress to help our parents, who gave their lives in the Dominican cane fields. We’re young people who are being deprived of our rights. We were born here and have no origins, and even animals have origins," said Elena Lorac, who showed a copy of her birth certificate.
She said that when she went to get a duplicate ID to enroll in a university three years ago she was denied, adding that Dominicans of Haitian descent want to complete their college studies and enter into other productive activities other than domestic service, and selling on the streets.
While Ana Maria Belique, a college student, also showed her ID card, and said she now won’t be able to get duplicate documents because they aren’t being issued. She said she has never been to Haiti.
In addition to the capital, the protest was staged simultaneously in front of the electoral boards in Bayaguana, Guaimate, La Romana, El Seibo and San Pedro de Macoris, and in the sugar mill towns Consuelo, Quisqueya and Ramon Santana.
The protesters chanted "I want to progress and the board won’t let me"; "I want to study and the board won’t let me", and "I want to work and the board won’t let me."
ARTICLE - D.R. - HAITIAN IMMIGRATION PROBLEM
HAITIAN IMMIGRATION PROBLEM MUST BE DEALT WITH "ONCE AND FOR ALL," CARDINAL SAYS
(Dominican Today) -
Santo Domingo - Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez on Tuesday night urged the country to deal with the Haitian immigration problem “once and for all;” one day after uproar caused by the resolution banning school enrolment to undocumented people. "Simply once and for all, the country has to head toward dealing with the Haitian problem once and for all."
"We can not continue with this nonsense every so often. My opinion is that we deal with the problem seriously," the cardinal said.
The prelate said there should be a deal for Haiti to send its nationals to the Dominican Republic; "not illegal, because that’s not done in any country in the world."
"So we’re faced with a dilemma. If we don’t do it we face international conflicts. If we do this we create internal conflicts," Lopez said before the start of an activity at the San Antonio de Padua Parish, in the capital.
(Dominican Today) -
Santo Domingo - Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez on Tuesday night urged the country to deal with the Haitian immigration problem “once and for all;” one day after uproar caused by the resolution banning school enrolment to undocumented people. "Simply once and for all, the country has to head toward dealing with the Haitian problem once and for all."
"We can not continue with this nonsense every so often. My opinion is that we deal with the problem seriously," the cardinal said.
The prelate said there should be a deal for Haiti to send its nationals to the Dominican Republic; "not illegal, because that’s not done in any country in the world."
"So we’re faced with a dilemma. If we don’t do it we face international conflicts. If we do this we create internal conflicts," Lopez said before the start of an activity at the San Antonio de Padua Parish, in the capital.
ARTICLE - HOW MIGRANTS HELP HAITI
LE BON VOYAGE - HOW HAITIAN MIGRANTS HELP THEIR NATION'S RECOVERY
(Int'l Business Times) - By Jacey Fortin
On Sunday, at least 11 people were killed when a boat carrying 28 Haitian nationals sank off the coast of Abaco, an island in the Bahamas. The BBC reported that seven people have so far been found alive, and the U.S. Coast Guard is still searching for missing bodies.
The migrants were headed for the United States when the overcrowded vessel ran aground. The tragedy is a reminder that in spite of the danger, Haitians still plan risky passages to the United States on a regular basis.
Not everyone completes the journey, but those who do can have a surprisingly beneficial effect on the quality of life for those they have left behind in Haiti.
In fact, Haitian immigrants -- and the remittances they send back -- represent a potentially powerful solution to some of the country's most endemic problems.
Setting Sail
Haitian immigration to the United States first picked up in the 1960s and 1970s; many sought refuge from the despotic regime of then-President Francois 'Papa Doc' Duvalier, who was succeeded by his equally tyrannical son Jean-Claude 'Baby Doc' Duvalier. Even after the latter's ouster in 1986, political instability and violence plagued the country. Poverty is widespread and the land suffers from a depletion of natural resources. Moreover, infrastructure is underdeveloped, which had tragic consequences following the massive earthquake of January 2010.
When the quake hit Haiti, the capital city of Port-au-Prince was largely demolished. In the chaos, over 250,000 died and many more were injured. Still, today, hundreds of thousands remain displaced and many endure harsh conditions in overcrowded settlement camps.
In defiance of expectations, reports CNN, Haitian immigration to the United States has not spiked since the natural disaster -- the stream of Haitian migrants, often in overcrowded boats, has been relatively steady in recent years.
What did change following the earthquake were public attitudes. In 2010, global sympathies in the wake of disaster temporarily altered the legal status of many Haitian immigrants in the United States.
A Lukewarm Welcome
A June report from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) detailed the changing legal status of Haitian immigrants over the last few years.
In the United States, Haitians were given Temporary Protected Status (TPS) just after the earthquake. This rule applied to some Haitians who had come to the United States illegally, preventing their deportation due to Haiti's inability to receive any returning emigrants. TPS for Haitians has been extended through January 2013.
In December 2010, however, the United States announced that it would resume deportations for any Haitians who had a U.S. court conviction for a felony, or at least two misdemeanors. This resulted in the January 2011 expulsion of 26 people, who were subsequently detained in Haitian holding cells for almost two weeks.
One of these deportees, a 34-year-old man named Wildrick Guerrier, became ill with cholera-like symptoms and passed away. This caused some uproar over the deportation program, and the United States halted the practice momentarily.
But in April 2011, the United States once again implemented a renewal of deportations for convicted Haitian immigrants. The so-called "April 1 Policy" was meant to allow for a more thorough consideration of mitigating factors, such as an immigrant's "duration of residence in the United States, family ties, or significant medical issues."
TPS still stands, meaning that non-convicted Haitians can remain in the United States. But the situatuon is temporary, and according to the OHCHR report, "the United States continues to deport approximately 40-50 persons to Haiti each month."
Furthermore, the study found that many of the circumstances surrounding these deportations were questionable. "While the United States has a written policy that takes humanitarian factors into account, it appears that this policy is not being fully implemented."
Tugging At Bootstraps
An illegal Haitian immigrant to the United States risks a lifetime of adversity and difficulty.
Those who reach the U.S. and settle to live and work there often face endemic prejudice. Those who are returned to Haiti also face ostracism, as "deportees are highly stigmatized in Haitian society," according to the OCHCR. And then there are those who never make it to the U.S., whose deaths at sea often represent a failed last hope for bereaved family members.
It may seem odd that Haitian citizens continue to brave the dangerous 700-mile journey from Haiti to Florida, especially considering the whole new set of risks they will face even after making it onto dry land. But it is not just self-preservation that motivates many Haitians to leave their homeland; these immigrants have actually become Haiti's most reliable source of funding, making them an important key to the country's ongoing development.
Unlike aid money or economic investment, remittances are not beholden to the changing tides of domestic politics in donor countries. They are not liable to end up in the coffers of foreign firms and banks, and they are only minimally held up by red tape.
It is the one source of income that most quickly makes its way into the hands of the families and individuals who need it most.
A Terrible Record
Foreign Policy reports that the estimated 535,000 Haitian migrants in the United States remit up to $2 billion each year, which actually exceeds the value of U.S. aid funding. In fact, much of the foreign aid that was promised to Haiti since the quake has not been disbursed, or will likely not reach its intended destination.
"For example, only about half of the cash promised by donors to Haiti for 2010-2011 had been disbursed by [the end of 2011] -- and the figure for U.S.-given aid is only about 30 percent. There is still a huge gap between donor disbursement and [its] impact on the ground; a lot of the resources have been disbursed only as far as implementing agencies like NGOs and [other] international agencies, many of whom have yet to spend the cash," said the report.
Even when money is not involved, international efforts to help stabilize Haiti have a record that is spotty at best.
Aid oversight, for example, has never been satisfactorily established. A panel called the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, which was created to help organize the disbursement of aid for development projects in Haiti, was established in April 2010. Its mandate expired in October 2011. It was never renewed.
And in one of the worst development debacles in recent memory, the UN's presence in Haiti has inadvertently led to a devastating outbreak of cholera in the country. Peacekeeping troops from Nepal are suspected of carrying the bacteria with them to a base in the town of Meille in October 2010. The poorly regulated disposal of human waste there led to an outbreak that spread rapidly along the Latem River.
In a country already burdened with poor water sanitation infrastructure and no previous exposure to the dehydrating disease, the effects were devastating. About 5 percent of the population has been infected with cholera. Over 7,050 have died. The UN has not assumed responsibility.
The incident sparked protests across the country. Meanwhile, the continued displacement of thousands of Haitians and the slow progression of repairs in Port-au-Prince have many Haitians losing faith in the efficacy of international assistance. Many are taking matters into their own hands and boarding boats that can take them beyond their borders.
Back on Dry Land
Sunday night's tragedy proves the danger of journeys like this. But for the hundreds of thousands of Haitians on U.S. soil today, the migration was worth it; they've seen their families' situations improve directly as a result of their efforts.
The 11-and-counting Haitians who died off the coast of Abaco won't get that chance. Coast Guard District Chief Captain Brendan McPherson said on Tuesday that Sunday's loss of life was tragic and could have been prevented.
"As we continue our efforts to locate any survivors, the Coast Guard urges family members everywhere to plead with loved ones overseas who might wish to immigrate to the U.S. to only do so through safe and lawful means," he said, according to CNN.
But considering the stringency of U.S. deportation policies, it may be the very definition of "lawful" that needs changing. For instance, those who survived Sunday's wreck are likely to be deported back to Haiti; they don't qualify for TPS since they are arriving now and were not previously residing in the U.S.
Whether they should be deported or not is a matter of much contention. Many have argued that the United States should open up the border between the two countries, which would result in more remittances. Expanding work-visa programs and easing deportations could help save money in the long run, since the aid that flows via remittances comes not from the U.S. government but from the migrants themselves. And Haitian migrants could be less likely to make dangerous, secretive voyages if U.S. policies were more welcoming.
Such legislation is, at best, a long way off -- not least because the United States is in the middle of a presidential election season, an environment in which a professed support for the liberalization of immigration laws could amount to political suicide.
Meanwhile, as long as the situation in Haiti remains dire, Sunday's tragedy is not likely to stop Haitian migrants from embarking on risky trips in search of better opportunities.
On Sunday, at least 11 people were killed when a boat carrying 28 Haitian nationals sank off the coast of Abaco, an island in the Bahamas. The BBC reported that seven people have so far been found alive, and the U.S. Coast Guard is still searching for missing bodies.
The migrants were headed for the United States when the overcrowded vessel ran aground. The tragedy is a reminder that in spite of the danger, Haitians still plan risky passages to the United States on a regular basis.
Not everyone completes the journey, but those who do can have a surprisingly beneficial effect on the quality of life for those they have left behind in Haiti.
In fact, Haitian immigrants -- and the remittances they send back -- represent a potentially powerful solution to some of the country's most endemic problems.
Setting Sail
Haitian immigration to the United States first picked up in the 1960s and 1970s; many sought refuge from the despotic regime of then-President Francois 'Papa Doc' Duvalier, who was succeeded by his equally tyrannical son Jean-Claude 'Baby Doc' Duvalier. Even after the latter's ouster in 1986, political instability and violence plagued the country. Poverty is widespread and the land suffers from a depletion of natural resources. Moreover, infrastructure is underdeveloped, which had tragic consequences following the massive earthquake of January 2010.
When the quake hit Haiti, the capital city of Port-au-Prince was largely demolished. In the chaos, over 250,000 died and many more were injured. Still, today, hundreds of thousands remain displaced and many endure harsh conditions in overcrowded settlement camps.
In defiance of expectations, reports CNN, Haitian immigration to the United States has not spiked since the natural disaster -- the stream of Haitian migrants, often in overcrowded boats, has been relatively steady in recent years.
What did change following the earthquake were public attitudes. In 2010, global sympathies in the wake of disaster temporarily altered the legal status of many Haitian immigrants in the United States.
A Lukewarm Welcome
A June report from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) detailed the changing legal status of Haitian immigrants over the last few years.
In the United States, Haitians were given Temporary Protected Status (TPS) just after the earthquake. This rule applied to some Haitians who had come to the United States illegally, preventing their deportation due to Haiti's inability to receive any returning emigrants. TPS for Haitians has been extended through January 2013.
In December 2010, however, the United States announced that it would resume deportations for any Haitians who had a U.S. court conviction for a felony, or at least two misdemeanors. This resulted in the January 2011 expulsion of 26 people, who were subsequently detained in Haitian holding cells for almost two weeks.
One of these deportees, a 34-year-old man named Wildrick Guerrier, became ill with cholera-like symptoms and passed away. This caused some uproar over the deportation program, and the United States halted the practice momentarily.
But in April 2011, the United States once again implemented a renewal of deportations for convicted Haitian immigrants. The so-called "April 1 Policy" was meant to allow for a more thorough consideration of mitigating factors, such as an immigrant's "duration of residence in the United States, family ties, or significant medical issues."
TPS still stands, meaning that non-convicted Haitians can remain in the United States. But the situatuon is temporary, and according to the OHCHR report, "the United States continues to deport approximately 40-50 persons to Haiti each month."
Furthermore, the study found that many of the circumstances surrounding these deportations were questionable. "While the United States has a written policy that takes humanitarian factors into account, it appears that this policy is not being fully implemented."
Tugging At Bootstraps
An illegal Haitian immigrant to the United States risks a lifetime of adversity and difficulty.
Those who reach the U.S. and settle to live and work there often face endemic prejudice. Those who are returned to Haiti also face ostracism, as "deportees are highly stigmatized in Haitian society," according to the OCHCR. And then there are those who never make it to the U.S., whose deaths at sea often represent a failed last hope for bereaved family members.
It may seem odd that Haitian citizens continue to brave the dangerous 700-mile journey from Haiti to Florida, especially considering the whole new set of risks they will face even after making it onto dry land. But it is not just self-preservation that motivates many Haitians to leave their homeland; these immigrants have actually become Haiti's most reliable source of funding, making them an important key to the country's ongoing development.
Unlike aid money or economic investment, remittances are not beholden to the changing tides of domestic politics in donor countries. They are not liable to end up in the coffers of foreign firms and banks, and they are only minimally held up by red tape.
It is the one source of income that most quickly makes its way into the hands of the families and individuals who need it most.
A Terrible Record
Foreign Policy reports that the estimated 535,000 Haitian migrants in the United States remit up to $2 billion each year, which actually exceeds the value of U.S. aid funding. In fact, much of the foreign aid that was promised to Haiti since the quake has not been disbursed, or will likely not reach its intended destination.
"For example, only about half of the cash promised by donors to Haiti for 2010-2011 had been disbursed by [the end of 2011] -- and the figure for U.S.-given aid is only about 30 percent. There is still a huge gap between donor disbursement and [its] impact on the ground; a lot of the resources have been disbursed only as far as implementing agencies like NGOs and [other] international agencies, many of whom have yet to spend the cash," said the report.
Even when money is not involved, international efforts to help stabilize Haiti have a record that is spotty at best.
Aid oversight, for example, has never been satisfactorily established. A panel called the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, which was created to help organize the disbursement of aid for development projects in Haiti, was established in April 2010. Its mandate expired in October 2011. It was never renewed.
And in one of the worst development debacles in recent memory, the UN's presence in Haiti has inadvertently led to a devastating outbreak of cholera in the country. Peacekeeping troops from Nepal are suspected of carrying the bacteria with them to a base in the town of Meille in October 2010. The poorly regulated disposal of human waste there led to an outbreak that spread rapidly along the Latem River.
In a country already burdened with poor water sanitation infrastructure and no previous exposure to the dehydrating disease, the effects were devastating. About 5 percent of the population has been infected with cholera. Over 7,050 have died. The UN has not assumed responsibility.
The incident sparked protests across the country. Meanwhile, the continued displacement of thousands of Haitians and the slow progression of repairs in Port-au-Prince have many Haitians losing faith in the efficacy of international assistance. Many are taking matters into their own hands and boarding boats that can take them beyond their borders.
Back on Dry Land
Sunday night's tragedy proves the danger of journeys like this. But for the hundreds of thousands of Haitians on U.S. soil today, the migration was worth it; they've seen their families' situations improve directly as a result of their efforts.
The 11-and-counting Haitians who died off the coast of Abaco won't get that chance. Coast Guard District Chief Captain Brendan McPherson said on Tuesday that Sunday's loss of life was tragic and could have been prevented.
"As we continue our efforts to locate any survivors, the Coast Guard urges family members everywhere to plead with loved ones overseas who might wish to immigrate to the U.S. to only do so through safe and lawful means," he said, according to CNN.
But considering the stringency of U.S. deportation policies, it may be the very definition of "lawful" that needs changing. For instance, those who survived Sunday's wreck are likely to be deported back to Haiti; they don't qualify for TPS since they are arriving now and were not previously residing in the U.S.
Whether they should be deported or not is a matter of much contention. Many have argued that the United States should open up the border between the two countries, which would result in more remittances. Expanding work-visa programs and easing deportations could help save money in the long run, since the aid that flows via remittances comes not from the U.S. government but from the migrants themselves. And Haitian migrants could be less likely to make dangerous, secretive voyages if U.S. policies were more welcoming.
Such legislation is, at best, a long way off -- not least because the United States is in the middle of a presidential election season, an environment in which a professed support for the liberalization of immigration laws could amount to political suicide.
Meanwhile, as long as the situation in Haiti remains dire, Sunday's tragedy is not likely to stop Haitian migrants from embarking on risky trips in search of better opportunities.
ARTICLE - SURVIVORS MOURN HAITIAN MIGRANTS
SURVIVORS MOURN HAITIAN MIGRANTS LOST WHEN BOAT SINKS OFF BAHAMAS
(Miami Herald) - By Jacqueline Charles and Anna Edgerton
Eleven bodies were recovered. One of the survivors is suspected of organizing the ill-fated trip
Shana Baptiste was fighting to swim to safety in rough waters when she decided to turn back. Her four younger siblings needed her. As she struggled to rescue them from a sinking boat in the waters off the island of Abaco in the Bahamas, she too would perish.
Born in the Bahamas of Haitian parents, the 18-year-old high schooler was among the victims of Sunday’s Haitian boat tragedy. The story of her death was recalled Tuesday by her uncle who told The Miami Herald that he and his wife lost nine family members aboard the 28-foot boat known as the Glory Time.
“We are in shock,” he said, speaking from the Bahamas on the condition of anonymity because he feared prosecution by authorities. As he spoke on the telephone, his wife’s anguished wails could be heard in the background. “She still has not accepted it.”
Eleven bodies have been recovered, and U.S. Coast Guard and Bahamian authorities continued to comb Bahamian waters Tuesday looking for missing Haitians who were aboard the overcrowded, 28-foot motorized boat that sank Sunday night while en route to Florida. It is presumed a dozen people are missing.
At least five passengers, all Haitian men living illegally in the Bahamas, were able to swim to shore safety, Bahamian police said. Police are trying to determine if one of them was the organizer of the expedition. Eight people believed to be associated with the ill-fated trip are being held for questioning, National Security Minister Bernard Nottage told members of parliament Tuesday.
Nottage said the incident “speaks to the on-going challenges we face with the illegal smuggling of migrants into and from The Bahamas... I trust that this unfortunate incident would further buttress the resolve of all right thinking persons to do all that is possible to bring an end to the smuggling of persons to and through our waters.”
Authorities were first informed of the incident in an anonymous phone call Monday, said Nottage.
A Haitian Bahamian, who was aboard the boat, later told police the craft was headed to Florida with 28 people aboard. The journey began somewhere in Treasure Cay.
“The gentleman further reported that he believed each person paid a total of $5,000 per head for the journey,” Nottage said. “Sometime after 8 p.m. on the same day they began experiencing engine problems when one of the engines kept cutting off, which slowed the vessel down.”
“The vessel eventually capsized and everyone began to scramble to save their lives,” he said. “He reported he did his best to save other persons but the sea was too rough so he had to save his own life.”
Shana’s uncle said that one of the survivors told the story of her bravery, and subsequent death. Still unclear is whether her father “Chancy” made it. He is a diver, said the uncle, who made the decision “to go to Miami with the children” despite objections.
“I told him, ‘Do it the legal way. Let’s go and get their documents in order and apply for a visa.’ He didn’t want to listen. He said he couldn’t wait,’” the uncle recalled. He learned of the tragedy, he said, in a phone call Monday, minutes after noon. The children’s mother is in Haiti, where she returned because of illness, and has no idea that the children are dead, the uncle said.
Since last October, the U.S. Coast Guard has prevented 823 Haitians from reaching the United States by sea, an increase from 769 interdicted during the same period last year, according to its website. In December, the Cuban government said 38 Haitian migrants died and 87 others were rescued after a boat sank off the island’s eastern coast.
Antonio Rodrigue, Haiti’s ambassador to the Bahamas, said the increase in Haitians being interdicted at sea and Sunday’s tragedy are not a reflection of life back in Haiti.
“Haitians want to go to the United States. Families arrange for them to go to the Bahamas and then to the U.S.,” he said. “This is not the first time we’ve had an incident like this.”
He said the Haitians on the boat “came from all over.” Some, like Shana’s family, had been living in the Bahamas for 20 years. Others had recently arrived from Haiti, hoping to make it to the United States.
Illegal Haitian smuggling operations out of the Bahamas, and particularly Abaco, are fairly common, Rodrigue said, and he confirmed that last week a wooden sloop, arriving from Haiti, was able to drop off undocumented Haitians in the Turks and Caicos undetected.
For now the bodies are in the morgue, said Rodrigue. “We’re waiting,” he said. “We don’t know if families will claim the bodies.” If they do not, burying the victims could fall on the shoulders of the cash-strapped Haitian government.
Both Haiti’s president and prime minister issued condolences to the families of the victims Tuesday. President Michel Martelly called on "Haitian citizens to avoid putting themselves at risk by using illegal channels” to travel to foreign countries.
Marleine Bastien, the director of Haitian Women of Miami, said that she was “shocked and concerned” that people were once again trying to make the dangerous journey to the United States. She said Haitians need more legal options to enter the country so they won’t take the risk of paying people smugglers for their passage.
She and other Haitian advocates have been pushing for the Haitian Family Reunification Parole program, proposed legislation modeled after a similar program that allows Cubans to come to this country while their visas are being processed.
“We want to send the message to people in Haiti to not risk their lives,” Bastien said. “We do not want to lose more brothers and sisters.”
Eleven bodies were recovered. One of the survivors is suspected of organizing the ill-fated trip
Shana Baptiste was fighting to swim to safety in rough waters when she decided to turn back. Her four younger siblings needed her. As she struggled to rescue them from a sinking boat in the waters off the island of Abaco in the Bahamas, she too would perish.
Born in the Bahamas of Haitian parents, the 18-year-old high schooler was among the victims of Sunday’s Haitian boat tragedy. The story of her death was recalled Tuesday by her uncle who told The Miami Herald that he and his wife lost nine family members aboard the 28-foot boat known as the Glory Time.
“We are in shock,” he said, speaking from the Bahamas on the condition of anonymity because he feared prosecution by authorities. As he spoke on the telephone, his wife’s anguished wails could be heard in the background. “She still has not accepted it.”
Eleven bodies have been recovered, and U.S. Coast Guard and Bahamian authorities continued to comb Bahamian waters Tuesday looking for missing Haitians who were aboard the overcrowded, 28-foot motorized boat that sank Sunday night while en route to Florida. It is presumed a dozen people are missing.
At least five passengers, all Haitian men living illegally in the Bahamas, were able to swim to shore safety, Bahamian police said. Police are trying to determine if one of them was the organizer of the expedition. Eight people believed to be associated with the ill-fated trip are being held for questioning, National Security Minister Bernard Nottage told members of parliament Tuesday.
Nottage said the incident “speaks to the on-going challenges we face with the illegal smuggling of migrants into and from The Bahamas... I trust that this unfortunate incident would further buttress the resolve of all right thinking persons to do all that is possible to bring an end to the smuggling of persons to and through our waters.”
Authorities were first informed of the incident in an anonymous phone call Monday, said Nottage.
A Haitian Bahamian, who was aboard the boat, later told police the craft was headed to Florida with 28 people aboard. The journey began somewhere in Treasure Cay.
“The gentleman further reported that he believed each person paid a total of $5,000 per head for the journey,” Nottage said. “Sometime after 8 p.m. on the same day they began experiencing engine problems when one of the engines kept cutting off, which slowed the vessel down.”
“The vessel eventually capsized and everyone began to scramble to save their lives,” he said. “He reported he did his best to save other persons but the sea was too rough so he had to save his own life.”
Shana’s uncle said that one of the survivors told the story of her bravery, and subsequent death. Still unclear is whether her father “Chancy” made it. He is a diver, said the uncle, who made the decision “to go to Miami with the children” despite objections.
“I told him, ‘Do it the legal way. Let’s go and get their documents in order and apply for a visa.’ He didn’t want to listen. He said he couldn’t wait,’” the uncle recalled. He learned of the tragedy, he said, in a phone call Monday, minutes after noon. The children’s mother is in Haiti, where she returned because of illness, and has no idea that the children are dead, the uncle said.
Since last October, the U.S. Coast Guard has prevented 823 Haitians from reaching the United States by sea, an increase from 769 interdicted during the same period last year, according to its website. In December, the Cuban government said 38 Haitian migrants died and 87 others were rescued after a boat sank off the island’s eastern coast.
Antonio Rodrigue, Haiti’s ambassador to the Bahamas, said the increase in Haitians being interdicted at sea and Sunday’s tragedy are not a reflection of life back in Haiti.
“Haitians want to go to the United States. Families arrange for them to go to the Bahamas and then to the U.S.,” he said. “This is not the first time we’ve had an incident like this.”
He said the Haitians on the boat “came from all over.” Some, like Shana’s family, had been living in the Bahamas for 20 years. Others had recently arrived from Haiti, hoping to make it to the United States.
Illegal Haitian smuggling operations out of the Bahamas, and particularly Abaco, are fairly common, Rodrigue said, and he confirmed that last week a wooden sloop, arriving from Haiti, was able to drop off undocumented Haitians in the Turks and Caicos undetected.
For now the bodies are in the morgue, said Rodrigue. “We’re waiting,” he said. “We don’t know if families will claim the bodies.” If they do not, burying the victims could fall on the shoulders of the cash-strapped Haitian government.
Both Haiti’s president and prime minister issued condolences to the families of the victims Tuesday. President Michel Martelly called on "Haitian citizens to avoid putting themselves at risk by using illegal channels” to travel to foreign countries.
Marleine Bastien, the director of Haitian Women of Miami, said that she was “shocked and concerned” that people were once again trying to make the dangerous journey to the United States. She said Haitians need more legal options to enter the country so they won’t take the risk of paying people smugglers for their passage.
She and other Haitian advocates have been pushing for the Haitian Family Reunification Parole program, proposed legislation modeled after a similar program that allows Cubans to come to this country while their visas are being processed.
“We want to send the message to people in Haiti to not risk their lives,” Bastien said. “We do not want to lose more brothers and sisters.”
ARTICLE - UN OFFICE URGE HALT TO DEPORTATIONS
UN OFFICIALS URGES HALT IN DEPORTATIONS TO HAITI
(Miami Herald) - AP
MIAMI -- The U.N. Independent Expert on human rights in Haiti wants to suspend deportations to the Caribbean country.
In a report issued last week, Michel Forst said deportations from U.N. member countries put deportees in a "vulnerable, life-threatening position" and add to Haiti's burdens. Forst said he also was concerned that the deportations violate the deportees' human rights.
Forst compiled his report with information provided by the U.S., Mexico, the United Kingdom, Brazil, France and eight other countries.
According to the report, the U.S. said it deported 376 Haitians in 2011. The U.S. returned another 1,137 Haitians picked up at sea in the 2011 fiscal year.
Forst wants the U.S. and other countries to stop returning Haitians under any circumstance and to fast-track visas for Haitians waiting to join relatives abroad.
(Miami Herald) - AP
MIAMI -- The U.N. Independent Expert on human rights in Haiti wants to suspend deportations to the Caribbean country.
In a report issued last week, Michel Forst said deportations from U.N. member countries put deportees in a "vulnerable, life-threatening position" and add to Haiti's burdens. Forst said he also was concerned that the deportations violate the deportees' human rights.
Forst compiled his report with information provided by the U.S., Mexico, the United Kingdom, Brazil, France and eight other countries.
According to the report, the U.S. said it deported 376 Haitians in 2011. The U.S. returned another 1,137 Haitians picked up at sea in the 2011 fiscal year.
Forst wants the U.S. and other countries to stop returning Haitians under any circumstance and to fast-track visas for Haitians waiting to join relatives abroad.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
ARTICLE - D.R HOSPITAL - 20% HAITIANS
SANTIAGO HOSPITAL SPENDS 20% OF ITS BUDGET ON HAITIANS
(Diario Libre) -
In addition, 19% of the childbirths are from Haitian mothers
SANTIAGO - About 20% of the budget of the Jose Maria Cabral y Baez Regional University Hospital is spent on attention given to Haitian women who are giving birth, which represents an economic burden for the medical center.
At the present time the center receives a monthly subsidy of RD$10,000,000 of which RD$2,000,000 is spent on Haitian births.
The information was offered by the hospital spokesman Sergio Garcia, who said that 19% of the children born in the hospital are from women from the neighboring country.
"The doctors that work in the hospital offer services to all the pregnant women that come in, no matter what their nationality," he said.
About 90 Haitians give birth each month in Cabral y Baez (as it is popularly known) in Santiago, an average of three a day, and many of them cross the frontier without any documents, according to the statistics of the center.
The reports also indicate that in 2009 there were 5,877 births, of which 1,099 were of Haitian women. In 2010 there were 1,150 Haitian births, and in 2011 there were 1,250 births from these women. Garcia said that these foreigner are not given any sort of document because they do not have the authority to do so, although the birth is registered on the hospital books. The spokesman said that as a requirement of the hospital the Dominican patients have to present their personal identification cards-the cédulas-or some other document that identifies them and the foreigners are asked for their passports.
He underlined the fact that in the hospital there is an office of civil registration, but it is a branch of the Central Electoral Board, and not a part of the hospital itself.
The Cabral y Baez Hospital is the largest in the Cibao, and hospitalizes approximately 23,000 patients a year, of which 10,000 are obstetrics patients.
A third of the pregnancies are adolescent girls.
And in 2011, they attended 172,000 general consultations, and there were 105,000 emergencies.
(Diario Libre) -
In addition, 19% of the childbirths are from Haitian mothers
SANTIAGO - About 20% of the budget of the Jose Maria Cabral y Baez Regional University Hospital is spent on attention given to Haitian women who are giving birth, which represents an economic burden for the medical center.
At the present time the center receives a monthly subsidy of RD$10,000,000 of which RD$2,000,000 is spent on Haitian births.
The information was offered by the hospital spokesman Sergio Garcia, who said that 19% of the children born in the hospital are from women from the neighboring country.
"The doctors that work in the hospital offer services to all the pregnant women that come in, no matter what their nationality," he said.
About 90 Haitians give birth each month in Cabral y Baez (as it is popularly known) in Santiago, an average of three a day, and many of them cross the frontier without any documents, according to the statistics of the center.
The reports also indicate that in 2009 there were 5,877 births, of which 1,099 were of Haitian women. In 2010 there were 1,150 Haitian births, and in 2011 there were 1,250 births from these women. Garcia said that these foreigner are not given any sort of document because they do not have the authority to do so, although the birth is registered on the hospital books. The spokesman said that as a requirement of the hospital the Dominican patients have to present their personal identification cards-the cédulas-or some other document that identifies them and the foreigners are asked for their passports.
He underlined the fact that in the hospital there is an office of civil registration, but it is a branch of the Central Electoral Board, and not a part of the hospital itself.
The Cabral y Baez Hospital is the largest in the Cibao, and hospitalizes approximately 23,000 patients a year, of which 10,000 are obstetrics patients.
A third of the pregnancies are adolescent girls.
And in 2011, they attended 172,000 general consultations, and there were 105,000 emergencies.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
ARTICLE - IDENTITY ON A DIVIDED ISLAND
IDENTITY ON A DIVIDED ISLAND
(Washington Post) - By Nicholas Casey
BATEY GEORGE, Dominican Republic — José Luis Santo, having just turned 18, planned to vote in this country's presidential election on Sunday. But when he went to the local registrar's office, he says he was denied a voting card on the grounds that his mother, who is Haitian, was never a Dominican citizen —and so neither was he.
The case of Mr. Santo, who says he was born in the Dominican Republic and therefore is a citizen, is one of many involving Dominicans born to Haitian parents who are being denied proof of citizenship ahead of the vote. Some say they have also been refused voting cards or copies of birth certificates, papers needed to get other vital documents such as driver's licenses and passports.
The citizenship dispute is part of a protracted clash between the two countries that not only share an island but also a history of tension. Haitians have long operated as an underclass in the Dominican Republic, in jobs ranging from highway construction to the cutting of sugar cane. Advocates say that many here wish to strip them of their nationality, too, pushing them deeper into the shadows.
Here in Batey George, a shantytown set up for sugar-cane farmers, many of whose parents came generations ago from Haiti, some fear deportation to a country where they have never lived and whose language, Haitian Creole, they often don't speak.
"This is a human drama, as without a nationality, these persons have few or no human rights," says Gonzalo Vargas Llosa who heads the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees office based in the Dominican Republic.
Mr. Vargas Llosa says nonprofit groups have documented roughly 2,500 Dominicans of Haitian descent who are caught in such a nationality limbo, though the actual figures could be much higher. Those people could apply as Haitians to be nationalized, but Mr. Vargas Llosa says their prospects at success are uncertain.
The Dominican government, in a statement sent through its U.S. Embassy, says the efforts aren't targeting anyone in particular but are merely meant to clean voter registries. It cited "a range of unlawful and potentially dangerous situations" concerning the voter lists, from baseball players with false documents to criminals voting under multiple identities.
It said the efforts, which had also targeted some Dominicans of Haitian descent, were meant to correct irregularities that had "plagued the country's civil registry." But it said only 61 people have been denied voting cards because they weren't Dominican.
As the vote nears, no major candidate has taken on the issue. Front-runner Danilo Medina, a former chief of staff under departing President Leonel Fernández (who is barred from another term), has worked with hard-line groups that pushed for immigration controls. His opponent, Hipólito MejÃa, also oversaw earlier steps to restrict citizenship during a previous presidency in the early 2000s.
The two candidates are ideologically similar, and both have offered vague proposals from improving education to curbing a rise in drug-related crime.
Haiti and the Dominican Republic have long had an uneasy existence. They share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, cleaved in two by a border that has been bloodied by invasions and massacres. While the two countries are poor and predominantly black, Haiti is far more destitute. For generations, refugees have flooded across the border.
The most recent wave arrived in 2010 when an estimated 15,000 Haitians fled to the Dominican Republic after a magnitude-7.0 earthquake devastated Port-au-Prince and other Haitian cities. The Dominican government offered aid, but ties between the two countries soon frayed again.
Since the 1930s, the Dominican government has granted citizenship to nearly every person born on its side of the island. The few exceptions were children born to diplomats or those in transit in the country, such as tourists. But in 2010, Dominicans adopted a new constitution that limits new citizenship — including voting rights — to those born of two legal Dominican residents, formalizing earlier legal changes and a 2005 Supreme Court decision that ruled that children born to illegal immigrants fell under the "in transit" category.
The Dominican government says that last year, after a number of complaints, it sent directions to registrars' offices to release birth certificates even if a person's legal status is under investigation.
Dominican nationalist groups, part of the ruling coalition, had also pushed for the changes amid chronic unemployment, which still hovers at 14%. The government says the changes aren't applied retroactively and don't affect those who already have citizenship.
On a recent visit to two poor villages, more than a dozen people said local officials have held back basic documents, especially birth certificates — which in the Dominican Republic are the basis for getting all other official documents, such as driver's licenses. All said they were born in the country to Haitians who arrived without documents, or had Haitian last names.
Bernelie Meme, a 25-year-old illegal immigrant who fled Haiti four years ago, says she was unable to get a hospital to treat her while she went into labor in 2010 because she didn't have documents. Instead, she says, she gave birth in a gas station. Her daughter is now two years old. Ms. Meme says she has been unable to get her a birth certificate.
Some advocates remain doubtful that much will change soon. Mario Jacobs, an attorney who has taken on numerous cases of people being denied documents, says the country has long sought to perpetuate the Haitian-Dominican underclass. "It's a pattern of behavior that will continue," he says.
Yonny Cherany, 16, says when he was unable to produce a birth certificate for his Haitian-born mother this year officials wouldn't give him an identification card or copies of his own birth certificate. "Without an ID card, my problems will increase throughout adulthood," he says, adding he would be unable to drive legally.
(Washington Post) - By Nicholas Casey
BATEY GEORGE, Dominican Republic — José Luis Santo, having just turned 18, planned to vote in this country's presidential election on Sunday. But when he went to the local registrar's office, he says he was denied a voting card on the grounds that his mother, who is Haitian, was never a Dominican citizen —and so neither was he.
The case of Mr. Santo, who says he was born in the Dominican Republic and therefore is a citizen, is one of many involving Dominicans born to Haitian parents who are being denied proof of citizenship ahead of the vote. Some say they have also been refused voting cards or copies of birth certificates, papers needed to get other vital documents such as driver's licenses and passports.
The citizenship dispute is part of a protracted clash between the two countries that not only share an island but also a history of tension. Haitians have long operated as an underclass in the Dominican Republic, in jobs ranging from highway construction to the cutting of sugar cane. Advocates say that many here wish to strip them of their nationality, too, pushing them deeper into the shadows.
Here in Batey George, a shantytown set up for sugar-cane farmers, many of whose parents came generations ago from Haiti, some fear deportation to a country where they have never lived and whose language, Haitian Creole, they often don't speak.
"This is a human drama, as without a nationality, these persons have few or no human rights," says Gonzalo Vargas Llosa who heads the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees office based in the Dominican Republic.
Mr. Vargas Llosa says nonprofit groups have documented roughly 2,500 Dominicans of Haitian descent who are caught in such a nationality limbo, though the actual figures could be much higher. Those people could apply as Haitians to be nationalized, but Mr. Vargas Llosa says their prospects at success are uncertain.
The Dominican government, in a statement sent through its U.S. Embassy, says the efforts aren't targeting anyone in particular but are merely meant to clean voter registries. It cited "a range of unlawful and potentially dangerous situations" concerning the voter lists, from baseball players with false documents to criminals voting under multiple identities.
It said the efforts, which had also targeted some Dominicans of Haitian descent, were meant to correct irregularities that had "plagued the country's civil registry." But it said only 61 people have been denied voting cards because they weren't Dominican.
As the vote nears, no major candidate has taken on the issue. Front-runner Danilo Medina, a former chief of staff under departing President Leonel Fernández (who is barred from another term), has worked with hard-line groups that pushed for immigration controls. His opponent, Hipólito MejÃa, also oversaw earlier steps to restrict citizenship during a previous presidency in the early 2000s.
The two candidates are ideologically similar, and both have offered vague proposals from improving education to curbing a rise in drug-related crime.
Haiti and the Dominican Republic have long had an uneasy existence. They share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, cleaved in two by a border that has been bloodied by invasions and massacres. While the two countries are poor and predominantly black, Haiti is far more destitute. For generations, refugees have flooded across the border.
The most recent wave arrived in 2010 when an estimated 15,000 Haitians fled to the Dominican Republic after a magnitude-7.0 earthquake devastated Port-au-Prince and other Haitian cities. The Dominican government offered aid, but ties between the two countries soon frayed again.
Since the 1930s, the Dominican government has granted citizenship to nearly every person born on its side of the island. The few exceptions were children born to diplomats or those in transit in the country, such as tourists. But in 2010, Dominicans adopted a new constitution that limits new citizenship — including voting rights — to those born of two legal Dominican residents, formalizing earlier legal changes and a 2005 Supreme Court decision that ruled that children born to illegal immigrants fell under the "in transit" category.
The Dominican government says that last year, after a number of complaints, it sent directions to registrars' offices to release birth certificates even if a person's legal status is under investigation.
Dominican nationalist groups, part of the ruling coalition, had also pushed for the changes amid chronic unemployment, which still hovers at 14%. The government says the changes aren't applied retroactively and don't affect those who already have citizenship.
On a recent visit to two poor villages, more than a dozen people said local officials have held back basic documents, especially birth certificates — which in the Dominican Republic are the basis for getting all other official documents, such as driver's licenses. All said they were born in the country to Haitians who arrived without documents, or had Haitian last names.
Bernelie Meme, a 25-year-old illegal immigrant who fled Haiti four years ago, says she was unable to get a hospital to treat her while she went into labor in 2010 because she didn't have documents. Instead, she says, she gave birth in a gas station. Her daughter is now two years old. Ms. Meme says she has been unable to get her a birth certificate.
Some advocates remain doubtful that much will change soon. Mario Jacobs, an attorney who has taken on numerous cases of people being denied documents, says the country has long sought to perpetuate the Haitian-Dominican underclass. "It's a pattern of behavior that will continue," he says.
Yonny Cherany, 16, says when he was unable to produce a birth certificate for his Haitian-born mother this year officials wouldn't give him an identification card or copies of his own birth certificate. "Without an ID card, my problems will increase throughout adulthood," he says, adding he would be unable to drive legally.
ARTICLE - FAIRTRADE BANANAS FAIL MIGRANTS
HOW FAIRTRADE BANANAS ARE FAILING MIGRANT WORKERS
(Guardian.co.uk) - By Tom Levitt
The Dominican Republic's Fairtrade boom hasn't helped slum-dwelling Haitian migrant workers
Like many young Dominicans, Federico left for the US when he finished school to look for work, ending up in a Spanish store in New York. After 20 years working seven days a week he grew tired of the long hours and yearned for his homeland and the tropical climate of the Caribbean.
He had heard about the booming banana trade with the export market growing fast, a cheap and plentiful workforce, and land and water in abundance. It seemed like an ideal opportunity, with money to be made for entrepreneurs willing to set up a plantation. Today he is half way towards his dream, 35 hectares of indigenous forest have been cleared with half already planted with banana trees. The other half will be up and running later this year, together with a new building to wash and pack the harvested bananas.
Not far away Jan Luis Moneta is still waiting for his dream: a work visa. He migrated from Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world, when he was 14 years old. After 30 years working on banana plantations he is still classed as an illegal worker. With his daily wage he cannot afford to live in anything more than a corrugated iron hut, with no water, toilet facilities or electricity.
Jan Luis is just one of many thousands of 'invisible' Haitian migrants working in the banana sector, where they make up an estimated 90 per cent of the total workforce [the government says the figure is 66 per cent]. Union activists told the Ecologist that 90-95 per cent of them are working in the country illegally.
Although their stories are wildly different, both Federico and Jan Luis have together helped fuel the Dominican Republic's banana boom. The country is the UK's biggest supplier in value terms, with more than half of all their bananas exported to our shores. The majority of these are Fairtrade and/or organic sold in Asda, the Co-op, M&S, Sainsburys and Waitrose. Despite the economic downturn, overall Fairtrade sales in the UK grew by 12 per cent in 2011.
An estimated 60 per cent of banana production in the country is now certified organic and a quarter certified Fairtrade. Despite this progress, the industry the Ecologist saw in the country was still one reliant on a migrant workforce paid poverty wages, living in slums and with no legal status. What's more, in an effort to tackle criticism of its treatment of illegal workers, the Dominican Republic government is now planning to force many of these migrants underpinning the banana industry to leave the country.
Lying hidden off a main road, around 1,000 Haitian migrants live crowded together in a community of corrugated iron shacks. Most of them are young and male, some have families but no one has water, toilets or electricity. Some of them have jobs. Some don't. Of the ones that do, nearly all work on banana plantations, including for a major organic company.
Most of the workers get 250 to 300 pesos a day when they work (about £4). 'It is barely enough to eat,' a group of young men tell us. 'It allows us one meal a day of beans and rice but is not enough to rent a house or look after a family.'
Nearby, off a main road near the town of Mao in Valverde, in another community of mainly wooden huts, live around 130 Haitian migrants. One of them, a 34-year-old Haitian migrant Sabin James, told us he works on an organic plantation and after 15 years in the country is still trying to get legal status.
Even though he gets paid 300 pesos, Sabin can't afford to buy a US$225 (8,800 pesos) passport that would give him access to social security. His company offers help to apply for one but won't help him pay for it. 'They say they are helping us but they know it's no help at all,' says Sabin. 'The companies don't want to know about workers or bother themselves with how much they earn, where they live or what they eat,' says Padre Regino Martinez, director of Asomilin (Solidarity Association of Migrant Workers in the Northwest Region). His organisation has been helping migrants get passports at a reduced cost of US$140 and overcoming their fears of being deported if they try and apply.
Padre says Dominican workers don't normally get paid more but were given fixed contracts and the opportunity for promotion to higher paid positions, which Haitians never occupied, leaving them trapped in poverty.
'They don't have enough to cover the costs of living. And have no way of getting a higher salary to rent a home or buy a visa or passport. No power to negotiate with plantation owners. There are plenty of workers who need a job, so they are all too scared to stand up to employers,' he says.
Another migrant, Emmantel Audige was one of a number of workers we met living near the Haitian border and is employed on a Fairtrade certified banana plantation. He told us that he and other migrants had signed a contract for eight hours a day but actually worked six am to five pm without rest or overtime and for wages of no more than the average 250 pesos reported by non-Fairtrade workers. He had been in the country for 11 years but was still classed as an illegal worker, with no rights to social security.
According to the Fairtrade Foundation the premium consumers pay for Fairtrade bananas is, in some cases, being used to help migrants get passports and working visas, however, Emmantel says he does not know what the premium gets spent on. He and other migrants would like to have access to a healthcare centre to deal with work injuries and for use by their families.
On his organic farm in the north-west of the Dominican Republic, Federico, who hopes to be certified Fairtrade, admits that some of his workers are illegal migrants with no work permits. He uses around 40 workers on day-to-day contracts, although he is not sure about where they live or their living conditions. He says his farm does not have enough money yet to help workers get visas or passports.
The Fairtrade Foundation in the UK acknowledges that migrant workers in Dominican Republic's banana industry need help in getting better housing and legal status. It says many of the small-scale producers are often disadvantaged themselves and it takes time for them to assume more responsibility for the living conditions of migrant workers.
Trade union groups in the Dominican Republic say Fairtrade standards do not do enough to help migrant workers. 'There is no doubt that they are improving international trade but it isn't helping migrant workers to earn a fair salary,' says Luciano Robles, from the Trade Union Autonomous Federation (CASC). 'International standards need to be adapted to local situations.'
The Fairtrade Foundation says calls for using the Fairtrade premium to subsidise migrant workers' wages may undermine the responsibility of farm owners and employers to tackle the 'living wage' issue.
It points the blame, in part, at the continual use of bananas in price wars between supermarkets, saying it has devalued the fruit in the eyes of the consumer and left producers with low returns, even in the Fairtrade sector, which has to remain competitive against conventional alternatives.
Campaigners are hoping the new supermarket watchdog, the Groceries Code Adjudicator, will help stop supermarkets pressurising their suppliers. 'Supermarkets are the most powerful actors along supply chains and make vast profits however the unsustainably low prices they pay to suppliers can leave the workers who plant, harvest and pack our food in poverty,' says Banana Link campaigner Anna Cooper.
There are also fears many illegal Haitian migrants could be expelled under new government rules that state at least 80 per cent of a firm's employees must be Dominican - a figure at odds with the reality of the migrant-dominated banana industry. Government officials told the Ecologist this was to 'regularise' the workforce and ensure Haitians were legal citizens in the country. But it puts the plight of thousands of other illegal migrants in peril.
'Until now the Dominican Republic government has allowed the existence of illegal Haitian workers, knowing the extreme difficulties they face in their own country and which can be partly solved by work here,' says Marike de Pena, from Banelino, a well-known Fairtrade producer group that sells bananas to many UK supermarkets. She admits some of their small-scale producers may be using illegal workers but says the group wants more Haitian migrants to be able to stay in the country and get better salaries and legal status. To that end, the Fairtrade Foundation, together with banana producers, have been lobbying the government to resolve the issue.
For now though, the difficulties for many migrants persist. 'The network of migration, exploitation and violation of rights is mutually beneficial for Haiti and Dominican Republic. There is even money to be made on the border from trafficking. The institutions issuing visas, the Dominican economy and the banana industry getting cheap labour. Everyone benefits,' says Union organiser Luciano Robles.
(Guardian.co.uk) - By Tom Levitt
The Dominican Republic's Fairtrade boom hasn't helped slum-dwelling Haitian migrant workers
Like many young Dominicans, Federico left for the US when he finished school to look for work, ending up in a Spanish store in New York. After 20 years working seven days a week he grew tired of the long hours and yearned for his homeland and the tropical climate of the Caribbean.
He had heard about the booming banana trade with the export market growing fast, a cheap and plentiful workforce, and land and water in abundance. It seemed like an ideal opportunity, with money to be made for entrepreneurs willing to set up a plantation. Today he is half way towards his dream, 35 hectares of indigenous forest have been cleared with half already planted with banana trees. The other half will be up and running later this year, together with a new building to wash and pack the harvested bananas.
Not far away Jan Luis Moneta is still waiting for his dream: a work visa. He migrated from Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world, when he was 14 years old. After 30 years working on banana plantations he is still classed as an illegal worker. With his daily wage he cannot afford to live in anything more than a corrugated iron hut, with no water, toilet facilities or electricity.
Jan Luis is just one of many thousands of 'invisible' Haitian migrants working in the banana sector, where they make up an estimated 90 per cent of the total workforce [the government says the figure is 66 per cent]. Union activists told the Ecologist that 90-95 per cent of them are working in the country illegally.
Although their stories are wildly different, both Federico and Jan Luis have together helped fuel the Dominican Republic's banana boom. The country is the UK's biggest supplier in value terms, with more than half of all their bananas exported to our shores. The majority of these are Fairtrade and/or organic sold in Asda, the Co-op, M&S, Sainsburys and Waitrose. Despite the economic downturn, overall Fairtrade sales in the UK grew by 12 per cent in 2011.
An estimated 60 per cent of banana production in the country is now certified organic and a quarter certified Fairtrade. Despite this progress, the industry the Ecologist saw in the country was still one reliant on a migrant workforce paid poverty wages, living in slums and with no legal status. What's more, in an effort to tackle criticism of its treatment of illegal workers, the Dominican Republic government is now planning to force many of these migrants underpinning the banana industry to leave the country.
Lying hidden off a main road, around 1,000 Haitian migrants live crowded together in a community of corrugated iron shacks. Most of them are young and male, some have families but no one has water, toilets or electricity. Some of them have jobs. Some don't. Of the ones that do, nearly all work on banana plantations, including for a major organic company.
Most of the workers get 250 to 300 pesos a day when they work (about £4). 'It is barely enough to eat,' a group of young men tell us. 'It allows us one meal a day of beans and rice but is not enough to rent a house or look after a family.'
Nearby, off a main road near the town of Mao in Valverde, in another community of mainly wooden huts, live around 130 Haitian migrants. One of them, a 34-year-old Haitian migrant Sabin James, told us he works on an organic plantation and after 15 years in the country is still trying to get legal status.
Even though he gets paid 300 pesos, Sabin can't afford to buy a US$225 (8,800 pesos) passport that would give him access to social security. His company offers help to apply for one but won't help him pay for it. 'They say they are helping us but they know it's no help at all,' says Sabin. 'The companies don't want to know about workers or bother themselves with how much they earn, where they live or what they eat,' says Padre Regino Martinez, director of Asomilin (Solidarity Association of Migrant Workers in the Northwest Region). His organisation has been helping migrants get passports at a reduced cost of US$140 and overcoming their fears of being deported if they try and apply.
Padre says Dominican workers don't normally get paid more but were given fixed contracts and the opportunity for promotion to higher paid positions, which Haitians never occupied, leaving them trapped in poverty.
'They don't have enough to cover the costs of living. And have no way of getting a higher salary to rent a home or buy a visa or passport. No power to negotiate with plantation owners. There are plenty of workers who need a job, so they are all too scared to stand up to employers,' he says.
Another migrant, Emmantel Audige was one of a number of workers we met living near the Haitian border and is employed on a Fairtrade certified banana plantation. He told us that he and other migrants had signed a contract for eight hours a day but actually worked six am to five pm without rest or overtime and for wages of no more than the average 250 pesos reported by non-Fairtrade workers. He had been in the country for 11 years but was still classed as an illegal worker, with no rights to social security.
According to the Fairtrade Foundation the premium consumers pay for Fairtrade bananas is, in some cases, being used to help migrants get passports and working visas, however, Emmantel says he does not know what the premium gets spent on. He and other migrants would like to have access to a healthcare centre to deal with work injuries and for use by their families.
On his organic farm in the north-west of the Dominican Republic, Federico, who hopes to be certified Fairtrade, admits that some of his workers are illegal migrants with no work permits. He uses around 40 workers on day-to-day contracts, although he is not sure about where they live or their living conditions. He says his farm does not have enough money yet to help workers get visas or passports.
The Fairtrade Foundation in the UK acknowledges that migrant workers in Dominican Republic's banana industry need help in getting better housing and legal status. It says many of the small-scale producers are often disadvantaged themselves and it takes time for them to assume more responsibility for the living conditions of migrant workers.
Trade union groups in the Dominican Republic say Fairtrade standards do not do enough to help migrant workers. 'There is no doubt that they are improving international trade but it isn't helping migrant workers to earn a fair salary,' says Luciano Robles, from the Trade Union Autonomous Federation (CASC). 'International standards need to be adapted to local situations.'
The Fairtrade Foundation says calls for using the Fairtrade premium to subsidise migrant workers' wages may undermine the responsibility of farm owners and employers to tackle the 'living wage' issue.
It points the blame, in part, at the continual use of bananas in price wars between supermarkets, saying it has devalued the fruit in the eyes of the consumer and left producers with low returns, even in the Fairtrade sector, which has to remain competitive against conventional alternatives.
Campaigners are hoping the new supermarket watchdog, the Groceries Code Adjudicator, will help stop supermarkets pressurising their suppliers. 'Supermarkets are the most powerful actors along supply chains and make vast profits however the unsustainably low prices they pay to suppliers can leave the workers who plant, harvest and pack our food in poverty,' says Banana Link campaigner Anna Cooper.
There are also fears many illegal Haitian migrants could be expelled under new government rules that state at least 80 per cent of a firm's employees must be Dominican - a figure at odds with the reality of the migrant-dominated banana industry. Government officials told the Ecologist this was to 'regularise' the workforce and ensure Haitians were legal citizens in the country. But it puts the plight of thousands of other illegal migrants in peril.
'Until now the Dominican Republic government has allowed the existence of illegal Haitian workers, knowing the extreme difficulties they face in their own country and which can be partly solved by work here,' says Marike de Pena, from Banelino, a well-known Fairtrade producer group that sells bananas to many UK supermarkets. She admits some of their small-scale producers may be using illegal workers but says the group wants more Haitian migrants to be able to stay in the country and get better salaries and legal status. To that end, the Fairtrade Foundation, together with banana producers, have been lobbying the government to resolve the issue.
For now though, the difficulties for many migrants persist. 'The network of migration, exploitation and violation of rights is mutually beneficial for Haiti and Dominican Republic. There is even money to be made on the border from trafficking. The institutions issuing visas, the Dominican economy and the banana industry getting cheap labour. Everyone benefits,' says Union organiser Luciano Robles.
ARTICLE - ELEUTHERA - HAITIAN IMMIGRANTS
MORE HAITIAN IMMIGRANTS COME ASHORE IN ELEUTHERA
(Eleuthera News) -
Eleuthera, The Bahamas - Authorities in Eleuthera are once again having to deal with illegal Haitian immigrants showing up in groups on the island. In this latest event, On Thursday, May 17, authorities were alerted about illegal immigrants in the Deep Creek / Wemyss Bight area of South Eleuthera. Police and immigration captured 19 persons of Haitian nationality, who have since been sent on to the Capital for further processing. The first group of 8 persons were captured on Thursday, May 17th, with a second group of 11 taken into custody on Friday, May 18th.
As of midday on Monday, police and immigration said they had not yet located a vessel associated with this latest group of illegal immigrants. According to authorities, investigations are still on going and residents in the area are being asked to report any unusual or new faces in the communities. On election day May 7th, a 40 foot Haitian sloop anchored off Eleuthera and sent dozens of people into Hatchet Bay. Officials over two days rounded up 49 Haitian immigrants.
On March 4th authorities apprehended 13 Haitians on Windermere Island who were apparently dropped off on the island. Additionally another two were found in Hatchet Bay on the same day, trying to take a boat into Nassau.
At least 17 persons were known to come in at Twin Coves in Governor's Harbour on February 29th aboard a 15-20ft sloop that ran aground. Three of the immigrants were found over the next three days, dead in the rocks. Tourists on online forums reported a stench from the same area during the period. Authorities apprehended 14 others persons from the vessel.
On November 5th, 2011, a boat, reportedly registered in Abaco and on its way from Haiti, with more than 100 Haitian migrants, was found drifting at the southern end of Harbour Island near South Bar. These too were apprehended and repatriated.
The recent activity in Eleuthera, is unprecedented and officials are asking the public to advise immigration or police of any unusual sightings, or new faces observed within communities on island.
(Eleuthera News) -
Eleuthera, The Bahamas - Authorities in Eleuthera are once again having to deal with illegal Haitian immigrants showing up in groups on the island. In this latest event, On Thursday, May 17, authorities were alerted about illegal immigrants in the Deep Creek / Wemyss Bight area of South Eleuthera. Police and immigration captured 19 persons of Haitian nationality, who have since been sent on to the Capital for further processing. The first group of 8 persons were captured on Thursday, May 17th, with a second group of 11 taken into custody on Friday, May 18th.
As of midday on Monday, police and immigration said they had not yet located a vessel associated with this latest group of illegal immigrants. According to authorities, investigations are still on going and residents in the area are being asked to report any unusual or new faces in the communities. On election day May 7th, a 40 foot Haitian sloop anchored off Eleuthera and sent dozens of people into Hatchet Bay. Officials over two days rounded up 49 Haitian immigrants.
On March 4th authorities apprehended 13 Haitians on Windermere Island who were apparently dropped off on the island. Additionally another two were found in Hatchet Bay on the same day, trying to take a boat into Nassau.
At least 17 persons were known to come in at Twin Coves in Governor's Harbour on February 29th aboard a 15-20ft sloop that ran aground. Three of the immigrants were found over the next three days, dead in the rocks. Tourists on online forums reported a stench from the same area during the period. Authorities apprehended 14 others persons from the vessel.
On November 5th, 2011, a boat, reportedly registered in Abaco and on its way from Haiti, with more than 100 Haitian migrants, was found drifting at the southern end of Harbour Island near South Bar. These too were apprehended and repatriated.
The recent activity in Eleuthera, is unprecedented and officials are asking the public to advise immigration or police of any unusual sightings, or new faces observed within communities on island.
ARTICLE - BAHAMAS OFFICERS IN HAITI?
GOV'T WANTS TO STATION INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS IN HAITI
(Nassau Guardian) - By Royston Jones, Jr.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration Fred Mitchell said yesterday that as part of the new administration's agenda to counter the influx of Haitian immigrants to The Bahamas, the government is seeking to place intelligence officers in Haiti.
Mitchell said the problem of illegal immigration needs to be tackled in two parts.
The first step is to ensure that the Royal Bahamas Defence Force has the necessary resources and is properly structured.
He said the next step is to strengthen ties between the governments of The Bahamas and Haiti.
"Foreign Affairs will play some role in trying to reinvigorate the agreement with the Haitian government to get intelligence officers inside Haiti to track where the smuggling is taking place and stop it at its source, and bottle up the smugglers," Mitchell told the Nassau Guardian.
"That really has to be job number one. Job number two has to be cleaning up the situation in town (New Providence) where people are working without work permits, and both of those will be energetically followed up and vigorously pursued."
Haitian President Michel Martelly engaged in talks with Bahamian officials and businessmen earlier this year, as part of efforts to improve Haitian interests at home and abroad.
During his two-day visit to Nassau, Martelly met with then Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, Minister of National Security Tommy Turnquest and Minister of Foreign Affairs Brent Symonette to discuss the illegal immigration and border security issues, among other national interests.
A similar set of discussions took place with then Opposition Leader Perry Christie and key members of his administration, including Mitchell.
"We told him (Martelly) that we left in place a joint commission agreement and we want to revitalize that," Mitchell said.
"That joint commission gives the framework in how we approach a whole range of issues, including immigration with Haiti and the (details) about intelligence officers in Haiti was part of that joint agreement."
Successive governments have received scathing criticism from political opponents on the contentious issues of immigration and hiring of foreigners in the country.
In its platform in the build up to the May 7 general election, the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) accused the Progressive Liberal Party (PLA) and Free National Movement (FNM) of not having a long-term national policy on immigration outside of apprehension and repatriation.
Mitchell added: "Immigration is a very contentious issue because there are two competing plains; there is the revenue side which immigration contributes about $40 million to the revenue, but there is also the demand that you put Bahamians first.
"I want to go into the Department of Immigration with the philosophical underpinning that Bahamians must come first and I plan to move quickly to pursue that as an agenda item".
718 Haitian immigrants were apprehended during 2009, compared to the 1,258 apprehended in 2010, reflecting an increase of around 34 percent, according to Defence Force operational statistics.
However, in 2011, 1,093 were apprehended, representing a decrease of around 13 percent over the previous year.
(Nassau Guardian) - By Royston Jones, Jr.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration Fred Mitchell said yesterday that as part of the new administration's agenda to counter the influx of Haitian immigrants to The Bahamas, the government is seeking to place intelligence officers in Haiti.
Mitchell said the problem of illegal immigration needs to be tackled in two parts.
The first step is to ensure that the Royal Bahamas Defence Force has the necessary resources and is properly structured.
He said the next step is to strengthen ties between the governments of The Bahamas and Haiti.
"Foreign Affairs will play some role in trying to reinvigorate the agreement with the Haitian government to get intelligence officers inside Haiti to track where the smuggling is taking place and stop it at its source, and bottle up the smugglers," Mitchell told the Nassau Guardian.
"That really has to be job number one. Job number two has to be cleaning up the situation in town (New Providence) where people are working without work permits, and both of those will be energetically followed up and vigorously pursued."
Haitian President Michel Martelly engaged in talks with Bahamian officials and businessmen earlier this year, as part of efforts to improve Haitian interests at home and abroad.
During his two-day visit to Nassau, Martelly met with then Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, Minister of National Security Tommy Turnquest and Minister of Foreign Affairs Brent Symonette to discuss the illegal immigration and border security issues, among other national interests.
A similar set of discussions took place with then Opposition Leader Perry Christie and key members of his administration, including Mitchell.
"We told him (Martelly) that we left in place a joint commission agreement and we want to revitalize that," Mitchell said.
"That joint commission gives the framework in how we approach a whole range of issues, including immigration with Haiti and the (details) about intelligence officers in Haiti was part of that joint agreement."
Successive governments have received scathing criticism from political opponents on the contentious issues of immigration and hiring of foreigners in the country.
In its platform in the build up to the May 7 general election, the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) accused the Progressive Liberal Party (PLA) and Free National Movement (FNM) of not having a long-term national policy on immigration outside of apprehension and repatriation.
Mitchell added: "Immigration is a very contentious issue because there are two competing plains; there is the revenue side which immigration contributes about $40 million to the revenue, but there is also the demand that you put Bahamians first.
"I want to go into the Department of Immigration with the philosophical underpinning that Bahamians must come first and I plan to move quickly to pursue that as an agenda item".
718 Haitian immigrants were apprehended during 2009, compared to the 1,258 apprehended in 2010, reflecting an increase of around 34 percent, according to Defence Force operational statistics.
However, in 2011, 1,093 were apprehended, representing a decrease of around 13 percent over the previous year.
ARTICLE - IOM LAUDS D.R. GOVERNMENT
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MIGRATION LAUDS THE GOVERNMENT
(Dominican Today) -
GENEVA - International Organization for Migration deputy director Laura Thompson lauded the Dominican Government for implementing the Regulations of the General Immigration Law, a milestone measure which has spurred controversy in the Caribbean nation which shares the island Hispaniola with Haiti.
Thompson met with Dominican Vice president Rafael Alburquerque in Switzerland, where she offered programs which benefit the country in that area, specifically on Border Security as a way to establish controls at the island’s maritime and land borders.
The official congratulated the Dominican Government and the people for the prompt support and solidarity shown with the Haitian people in the heels of the quake which leveled Port-au-Prince on January 2010.
GENEVA - International Organization for Migration deputy director Laura Thompson lauded the Dominican Government for implementing the Regulations of the General Immigration Law, a milestone measure which has spurred controversy in the Caribbean nation which shares the island Hispaniola with Haiti.
Thompson met with Dominican Vice president Rafael Alburquerque in Switzerland, where she offered programs which benefit the country in that area, specifically on Border Security as a way to establish controls at the island’s maritime and land borders.
The official congratulated the Dominican Government and the people for the prompt support and solidarity shown with the Haitian people in the heels of the quake which leveled Port-au-Prince on January 2010.
ARTICLE - HAITI VISA SCANDAL = STRICTER RULES
AFTER HAITI VISA SCANDAL, STRICTER RULES
(Dominican Today) -
SANTO DOMINGO - Starting today only the Foreign Ministry in Santo Domingo will issue visas from requests submitted without intermediaries to Dominican consulates in Haiti.
Foreign relations minister Carlos Morales adopted the measure yesterday, to avoid any distortion or irregularity in Dominican visas issued to Haitians.
The announcement comes on the heels of reports of beauty salons, barber shops and cafes in Haiti where Dominican visas were advertised for US$180.
Although Morales discarded the reports as “harmful misinformation about Dominican visas," he warned of drastic penalties for consuls who violate the Foreign Ministry’s procedure to issue business visas.
The Foreign Relations Ministry held an emergency meeting Wednesday morning with the consuls assigned in Haiti, after several travel agencies in that nation offered Haitians the service of obtaining a Dominican visa, including the legal proceedings in the consulates.
(Dominican Today) -
SANTO DOMINGO - Starting today only the Foreign Ministry in Santo Domingo will issue visas from requests submitted without intermediaries to Dominican consulates in Haiti.
Foreign relations minister Carlos Morales adopted the measure yesterday, to avoid any distortion or irregularity in Dominican visas issued to Haitians.
The announcement comes on the heels of reports of beauty salons, barber shops and cafes in Haiti where Dominican visas were advertised for US$180.
Although Morales discarded the reports as “harmful misinformation about Dominican visas," he warned of drastic penalties for consuls who violate the Foreign Ministry’s procedure to issue business visas.
The Foreign Relations Ministry held an emergency meeting Wednesday morning with the consuls assigned in Haiti, after several travel agencies in that nation offered Haitians the service of obtaining a Dominican visa, including the legal proceedings in the consulates.
ARTICLE - D.R. COMPATRIOTS' RIGHTS
SENIOR OFFICIAL REBUKES HAITI AMBASSADOR'S VIEW ON COMPATRIOTS' RIGHTS
(Dominican Today) -
Santo Domingo - The Presidency’s Antinarcotics Adviser on Friday rebuked Haiti ambassador Fritz Cineas’ request that Dominican authorities guarantee his compatriot’s human rights, claiming violations in repatriation proceedings.
Marino Vinicio Castillo said the country’s reality isn’t like the around 22 Haitian entities denounce, and instead is the fact that the neighboring country’s nationals are concerned with the enforcement of the immigration rules, which they reject.
By stressing that the Haitian ambassador went so far as to say that "Haitians have a certain right on the very principles of migration," the official reminded the diplomat that that isn’t so.
Castillo warned that to organize their entry and exit, any foreigner who comes to the Dominican Republic has to comply with its laws and regulations, especially Haitians; a flow that he affirms “has always been in disorder.”
(Dominican Today) -
Santo Domingo - The Presidency’s Antinarcotics Adviser on Friday rebuked Haiti ambassador Fritz Cineas’ request that Dominican authorities guarantee his compatriot’s human rights, claiming violations in repatriation proceedings.
Marino Vinicio Castillo said the country’s reality isn’t like the around 22 Haitian entities denounce, and instead is the fact that the neighboring country’s nationals are concerned with the enforcement of the immigration rules, which they reject.
By stressing that the Haitian ambassador went so far as to say that "Haitians have a certain right on the very principles of migration," the official reminded the diplomat that that isn’t so.
Castillo warned that to organize their entry and exit, any foreigner who comes to the Dominican Republic has to comply with its laws and regulations, especially Haitians; a flow that he affirms “has always been in disorder.”
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